The Animate Condensed Matter Laboratory develops artificial living brains for use in autonomous robotic systems.
We breathe life into condensed matter
We combine artificial life and artificial intelligence to create a new kind of neural processing units (NPUs) composed of artificial living materials that replicate the functionality of biological neural matter. These “artificial living brains” represent a major leap forward, with the potential to significantly outperform existing NPUs in terms of speed, processing capacity, and cognitive complexity.
We create a new generation of autonomous robots—capable of reasoning, adapting, and learning in real-time industrial environments. This pioneering approach may eventually lead to the development of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
Our team consists of experienced physicists, materials scientists, and nanofabrication experts. We cooperate with several academic institutions specializing in natural and artificial intelligence. We are funded by an international group of investors committed to developing emerging computing technologies and decision-making hardware.
Artificial animate materials for artificial brains
In our laboratories, we create new functional materials that can be regarded as simple non-biological counterparts of living matter. They generate autonomous actions, using their own metabolic energy. We make lifelike neural matter from these materials.
We use advanced microfabrication techniques for its manufacturing. By combining methods used for the production of ICs, camera sensors and touchscreens, we obtain intricate arrays of nanodevices that perform computations by chemical and structural transformations at the nanoscale.
The development of artificial living brains through evolution and selective breeding
Our laboratory has found that the most efficient way to develop artificial life is the brute force and artificial selection similar to that used in the creation of genetically modified organisms:
We fabricate a big pool of artificial lifelike agents with different structures, observe their behavior in different situations, eliminate the undesired agents and select the most suitable ones for further modification; and then repeat the procedure in the next generations. The evaluation takes place in special virtual reality environments. Essentially, we build a prototype of “The Matrix” for the lifelike robots, in which we play the role of Agents Smiths.
At some point in the future, we will allow some of the AI agents into the real world. Here they will supervise the production of goods and services and pay for their own further development. We predict that the lifelike agents will eventually create an extensive ecosystem, which will mostly thrive in the virtual Metaverse.
For fundamental physical reasons, the operation of biological organs cannot be described using a finite number of mathematical expressions. Because of this, artificial brains cannot be intentionally designed.
However, it does not mean that they cannot be created experimentally. The non-biological artificial brains can be developed through evolution and artificial selection from the simplest non-biological agents, just as biological organisms evolve in nature.
The simplest lifelike material agents and the evolutionary methods are available today. It means that the lifelike artificial general intelligence is achievable in the near future. By using this approach, we will create self-aware AI, without full understanding of how it works.
Definition of life for computational purposes
From a physical perspective, the living organism is a large collection of elementary particles that jointly solve the many-body problem. They are arranged into a single material body that carries out a self-sustained collective chemical transformation: The cooperative chemical reactions produce collective structural rearrangements, which cause new chemical transformations. In the process, the organism replaces used elements with fresh ones, maintaining its structure and function.
Autonomous actions of the living organism
The living organism performs elaborate computations during decision-making. In a living body, the elementary actions (atomic rearrangements and reconstructions of chemical bonds) are integrated into a dense causal network. A vast number of moving and transforming elements coordinate their efforts to find a consensus solution, which satisfies the majority of the actors.
The problem solving abilities of biological computers
Biological computers solve special problems. They can process massive volumes of interrelated data taking into account a vast amount of constraints and restrictions. They quickly find the paths of least resistance and maximum benefit. Besides, they can break the weakest restricting conditions and easily get out of difficult situations.
The biological computing machines view the outside world as a coherent picture. They can identify cause-and-effect relationships between events, establish priorities, and discover new solutions to complex problems that a human being cannot see.
Our Branches
Our company has several branches in different countries. Currently, our headquarters is located in Germany. The head of the company is Dmitry A. Kukuruznyak (Ph.D. in Materials Science, University of Washington, 2003). He leads our nanofabrication division and coordinates the group of scientists conducting research in the physics of life. This emerging discipline creates conceptual, physical, mathematical, and computational models of living matter.